Methods for forming a color image with use of silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials may included a method in which a photographic coupler is reacted with an oxidized product of a color developing agent to form a color image, and commonly used as the photographic coupler to perform usual color-reproduction are magenta, yellow and cyan couplers, and as the color developing agent, an aromatic primary amine color developing agent, respectively, where the magenta and yellow couplers are each reacted with an oxidized product of the aromatic primary amine color developing agent to form dye images such s azomethine dyes, and the cyan coupler is reacted with an oxidized product of the aromatic primary amine color developing agent to form a dye such as indoaniline dyes.
Among these, used for the formation of the magenta dye image are 5-pyrazolone, cyanoacetophenone, indazolone, pyrazolobenzimidazole and pyrazolotriazole couplers.
Almost all of those hitherto practically used as couplers for the formation of the magenta dye image have been 5-pyrazolone couplers. Dye images formed from the 5-pyrazolone couplers have superior fastness to light and heat. However, they have no sufficient color tone of the dyes, allow the presence of unnecessary absorption having a yellow component in the vicinity of 430 nm, and also have a broade absorption spectrum near 550 nm, thus causing color contamination and resulting in lack of clearness of photographic images.
Particularly superior as the couplers free of this unnecessary absorption includes 1H-pyrazolo[3,2-c]-s-triazole couplers, 1-H-imidazo[1,2-b]-pyrazole couplers, and 1-H-b-pyrazolo[1,5-b]-pyrazole couplers or 1-H-b-pyrazolo[1,5-d]-tetrazole couplers, described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,067, Japanese patent Publications Open to Public Inspection (hereinafter referred to as Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publications) No. 162548/1984, No. 171956/1956, etc..
However, the dye images to be formed from these couplers have very low fastness to light. Employment of these couplers in light-sensitive materials, particularly in light-sensitive materials suited for direct viewing, may result in impairment of the essential condition for photographic materials that the images must be recorded and stored.
Accordingly, there have been involved in difficulties in putting them into practical use. Then Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 125732/1984 discloses that a phenol or phenol ether type antioxidant is used as a measure to improve light-fastness, but no sufficient effect has ever been achieved.
Also, the chelate described in Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 140941/1986 can remarkably improve the light-fastness, but can be said to be sufficient because of generation of yellow stains.